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Add Character To Your Plain Interior Doors With Screen Moulding

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Disclosure: This article is sponsored by Wagner. All opinions are my own.

If you have plain wood interior doors like we do, adding screen moulding and painting them is a great and inexpensive way to drastically change the look of the inside of your home! And to achieve a professional paint finish, I again used the Wagner FLEXiO 5000 Sprayer with great results.

The first steps are measuring to see how much trim you need and picking the trim style. There are lots of different types of wood trim you can choose for this project. We choose 3/4″ screen moulding because it achieves a simple look and because it is very inexpensive. When measuring, don’t forget to plan for covering both sides of your doors.

There’s also several ways you can design the pattern of your trim. Again, we chose the simple route and planned for two simple rectangles on both sides of our doors.

Spacing the pattern isn’t that difficult. I looked online for how interior door panels are typically spaced, then measured the pattern on the face of my door accordingly. To achieve the trim spacing as shown in one of the photos above, I measured 4 1/2″ from the edge of the door to the start of the trim all the way around. For the gap in-between the two rectangles, I measured so the doorknob would lie in the center of the gap. You can use a straight edge to trace a pencil line if you wish to keep the trim in a perfect line when you attach it.

When attaching the trim to the door, I used a bead of Gorilla Wood Glue, as seen in one of the photos above, and fastened the trim with 1″ brad nails.

After the trim is attached, I filled the nail holes with DAP DryDex Spackling, removed the door from the hinges, and removed the door knob. After the spackling is dry, sand the spots with 320-grit sandpaper and remove all the dust from the door.

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I set up a sawhorse outside and leaned the door on it. As mentioned above, my choice for applying paint was the Wagner FLEXiO 5000 Sprayer, which leaves a professional look. The FLEXiO 5000 has controls on the handle with variable speeds for cutting time and effort and can paint a wall 12 times faster than a brush. Here’s a list of features for this awesome sprayer:

o X-Boost® Turbine
o iSpray® Nozzle – For walls and ceilings
o 11½ – Foot Air Hose
o 1½ quart cup covers up to a 10’ by 12’ wall in one fill
o Precise adjustments for various coatings and projects
o Lock-n-Go® split gun design for quick cleaning
o Integrated case for storage of nozzles/cups and air hose
o Detail Finish Nozzle – For small projects and a smooth finish
o Cleans up in 5 minutes – just five parts to rinse off

Painting is the easiest part of the project, thanks to Wagner. I sprayed two coats of paint on both sides. After drying, I brought the door back in, attached it to the hinges, and installed the door knob. I can’t overstate how incredible the change is and how it completely changes the look of the room!

This has been a good size project for me because we have lots of interior doors, but it’s been worth it. I spent less than $100 on materials, yet created an awesome update for our home. Why not give this project a try in your home?